I've got 3 concerts to report on from the last week or two (and a research paper to procrastinate on ) so I'll keep these short.

Amon Amarth completely destroyed my expectations for a metal concert. 2 and a half hours of epic viking metal was simply amazing. This was at the Regency Ballroom, which holds a lot of metal bands that could fill up Slim's too easily, but couldn't sell enough at the Fox Theater. Blind Guardian played to a half-capacity crowd in December, whereas Tim and Eric were completely packed. Much to my surprise, this show was absolutely packed to the brim. It really made me happy to see so many people there for just one band.

The first set saw a little pit form in the center throughout. It was neat seeing Surtur Rising live, especially since I feel it holds together far better as an album instead of a collection of singles. Twilight of the Thunder God was the opposite for me, since I usually cherry pick my favorites when listening to it. War of the Gods made for a great opening, and the pit went nuts for A Beast Am I (a very, very badass song by the way). If Amon Amarth don't play Doom Over Dead Man at every show they do from now on, they're crazy. It was amazingly heavy and epic, and definitely was a highlight of the show.

The second set was quite simply, amazing. As soon as the first notes of Twilight of the Thunder God were played the Regency erupted. I'm not even kidding, for the next 80 minutes I was in a battle with everyone around me. At first, I tried really hard to pay attention to the band and avoid the insanity, but a few songs in, I simply embraced it. From Live For the Kill onwards, I was doing an inconsistent combination of headbanging, slamming into people and jumping like a loon. It may have been the most fun I've had in years. I went absolutely apeshit for Death In Fire, and I was ready to go bonkers for the encore. During Cry of the Blackbirds, I moshed like a maniac during the chorus and just went nuts in general. In the middle of the song, I ran into a buddy of mine in the pit and we both looked at each other with looks that said both "holy shit, dude what's up!" and "holy shit, this is the greatest time I've ever had!" When Pursuit of Vikings came in full-force after the band's little tease on the opening riff, the entire audience was jumping to the rhythm and everyone was having an amazing time.

My friend and I came out of the concert pretty much saying various versions of "that was the best thing ever." We nommed down sandwiches at Tommy's (which is perfect after a show at the Regency since it's across the street and open till 2) and headed back to the parking garage. We ran into another friend of mine, and we proceeded to talk more about how amazing the concert was on the way to our vehicles. I don't think there was a single member of the audience that night who didn't say something along the lines of "THAT WAS SO AWESOME" after the show.

Simply put, in retrospect, now that I've had a bit of a cool down period, this was one the very best concerts I have ever been to. I seriously hope these guys do an Evening With... tour again.
Set 1
1. War of the Gods
2. Töck's Taunt: Loke's Treachery Part II
3. Destroyer of the Universe
4. Slaves of Fear
5. Live Without Regrets
6. The Last Stand of Frej
7. For Victory or Death
8. Wrath of the Norsemen
9. A Beast Am I
10. Doom Over Dead Man
Set 2
11. Twilight of the Thunder God
12. Masters of War
13. Live For The Kill
14. With Oden On Our Side
15. Guardians of Asgaard
16. Asator
17. Varyags of Miklagaard
18. Thousand Years of Oppression
19. Without Fear
20. Victorious March
21. Gods of War Arise
22. Death In Fire
ENCORE
23. Cry of the Black Birds
24. Runes to My Memory
25. Pursuit of Vikings